Spring chair-seat.



W. B. FOSTER.

I SPRING CHAIR SEAT. APPLICATION FILED JULY l8, I915.

rammed Feb. 1:, 1917.

I I II III III I II I I I IIILZ 12 I IS INVENTOR Wm M I ATTUIINEYS wninmm To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, WILLIAM BpFos'rnn, of Utica, in the county of Oneida-end State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Spring Chair- Seats; and I 'do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable othersiskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanyi'ng numerals marked thereon, of this specification.

My present invention relates to spring which form part provided with springs for rendering them more or less resilient.

The purpose. of my present invention is to provide a spring chair seat of new, im-

roved and economical but efficient and a durable construction. Another object of my invention is to provide a spring chair seat which is simple as to the number and character of the parts used to make the seat and also as to the way in which the members are assembled.

A still further purpose is to provide an article of the class described wherein simple but efficient means are provided to allow the coiled springs connecting the two flat metallic strips to yield and return to original position without tending to wear or injure the cushion or other upholstering material supported upon the aid strips and over the said springs.

. Another purpose in this connection is to have said protecting means of such form and character thatthey will not interfere with the freedom of the spring or the resiliency of the spring seat and at the same time will be so formed as not to materially increase the cost of manufacturing the spring seat or the cost of assembling the article. o

Other purposes and advantages Wlll apar from the specification and claims herein set forth.

Figure 1 is a plan view of a spring chair seat embodying my invention, the inward ends of one pair of metallic strips being cut away to show the coil spring and arms therebeneath. a

Fig.

enlarged scale on line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

Specification of Letters Patent.

drawings, and to the referencea chair seats meaning thereby seats that are are arranged in pairs, with ';he,-necessary 2 is a cross-sectional view on an UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

n. rosrnn, or ones, NEW Ypnx, ASSIGNOB TO Fos'rma nao'rnians murnc'rvnme comrm, or UTICA, NEW YORK, a cozaronn'non srame cans-sear.

Patented Feb 13, 19ft Application filed July 18. 1916. Serial No. 109,881.

of chairs. Mv invention is equally applica ble whether the chair seat frame to which 'it is applied be the main frame of a chair or one 'removably mounted in the main frame of the chair.

The chair seat frame shown is composed of a wooden front and rear piece land 5' V respectively between the ends of which and rigidly secured thereto are pl: iced the side pieces 6 and, 7. The side piecis are placed between the front and rear pi aces .in' order to prevent strain upon the 0011161 joints of the seat frame through the tension of the springs which are connected in the constructlon hown in Fig. 1 so that they tend to draw the front and rear pieces together. Strong strips 8 and 9 preferably metal and conveniently formed of hoop or band iron number upon the chair seat frame, with their outer ends firmlyfastened as by nails 11 to opposite sides of the fra ne. that is to the front and rear pieces 4' and 5 respectively as the parts are asse nbled in the 1 drawings, while the inner ends of said metal strips extend inwardly directly toward each other over or across the open .ng 10 of the chair seat frame. In thef'orm of my construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2 metallic strips 8 and 9 are similarlyfco ustructed and equal in length and are of surh a length as to over-lap one another for a considerable distance at the center of-the cl air as plainly indicated in the drawings.

Where the said strips over-la each other they are entirely free of each ot er, but rest closely together with the flat lower side of the one to the flat upper side of the other so that there" may bea relative. sliding lofi movement between said .over-lappin ends as the said strips yield dov'nward y and then return, without separati: 11g the oppos-,

ing and sliding faces of said strips and especially without separating the inner end of the upper .strip from the upper surface of the lower strip, Part way out on the strips 8 and 9 are similarly shaped arms 12 and 13 respectivelyhaving their outer ends secured to the lower sides of said strips as by means of the rivets 14 while the said arms extend inwardly and downwardly and toward the central part of the opening 10 to be spanned by a given pair of strips 8 and 9.

The said arms 12 and 13 are so mounted upon their respective stri s8 and 9 as to have the inner ends of sai arms held away from or below the over-hanging portion of said stri s. As two strips 8 and 9 are assembled and mounted upon a chair seat frame the length and proportion of the parts are such that the inner ends of the arms 12 and 13 are s aced from one another a little more than t e natural length of a coiled or helical spring 15. The helical spring 15 is interposed between the spaced ends of said arms and connected theretopreferably by having the last coil at each end of the helical spring bent at right angles to the plane in which it is originally formed thus making a hook 21 at each end of the spring which is readily hooked through an opening 16 near the inner end of each of said arms 12 or 13. A set of two metallic strips 8 and 9 with their arms 12 and 13 are assembled by hooking the helical spring 15 to the arms 12 and 13 as above suggested. When this set is to be placed upon a chair seat frame the outer end of one, as for instance 8, is

laid flat upon the upper surface of the wooden front piece 4 and securely and permanently fastened thereto as by a short nail 11 being driven through a hole 17 near the outer end of said stri and into said wooden front piece of the c air seat frame. The outer end of the other strip is by similar means fastened to the rear iece 5 of the chair seat frame after the he ical spring 15 has been placed under a slight tension by forcing the stri 9 to slide rearwardly a short distance re ative to the strip 8.

After the necessary number of such sets have been secured to the chair seat frame it will be seen that there is provided a series of flat bands extending entirely across the chair seat frame from front to rear, each band consisting of the strip 8 and-the strip 9 and that these strips are yieldingly held in a straight line as shown in Fig. 2 through the tension of coil spring 15 and the arms 12 and 13 connected to said strips 8 and 9.

When a substantial weight is placed upon a the chair the strain thereof forces the helical spring 15 to expand somewhat but only to a slight extent on account of the strengt of the helical spring and the fact that only a slight downward movement upon the su porting means of the chair seat frame is esired in this class of construction. As soon as the strain is removed the springs 15 again,

contract and draw the strips 8 and 9 back to IL POSItiOH in line with each other.

other metal of which the strips 8 and 9 are composed, is of such nature that the slight bend or curve forced thereinto by the down- During this sliding movement and its reverse or sliding movement back to' original os1t1on the Inner extremity 18 of the overaplping inner ends, in this case the inner en of the strip 8 will rest at all times flat upon the adjacent upper surface of the strip 9 and not be separated therefrom. It will .be seen, therefore, that the upholstering or cushioning material resting upon the stri s 8 and 9-.w1ll not be injured or worn and will not even be in contact with the expanding and contracting spring 15 which is disposed beneath the over-lapping strips 8 and 9.

' Also the arms 12 and 13 are far enough below the over-lapping portions of their strips 8 and '9as to hold the coil spring 15 at all times out of contact with even the lower strip namel strip 9, thus preventing wear seat frame.

In Fig. 3 is shown a modification or modified form of my invention, in that the strip 9' has its inner end bent down and inwardly to form the arm 13 to the inner end of which is connected one end of the spring 15' while the strip 8 is extended so as to pass the said arm at 13 of the strip 9 and to overlap upon the upper portion of the strip 9'; The strip 8" has an arm 12 similar to '12of Figs. 1 and 2 to the inward end of which is con- It will be understood that the hoop or band iron or and especia 1y preventing noise in the chair nected the other end of spring 15. It'will be seen that this construction will provide a flat band for the support of the upholstering material or cushion and that this band will yield downwardly under strain or weight and come back after the strain is removed in the way already described for the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2 exceptthat the slidingmovement will take the lace between the free end of arm 8' and the intermediate'part or the inner raised part of the strip 9. A

In Fig. 4 is shown a further modification of my invention, in that the strips 8" and 9" have their inner portions bent down to form I the spring-engaging arms 12" and 13 refrom resting down against the helical spring by means of strips 19 and 20 overlapping at their inner ends and operating in the same way as the inner ends of strips 8 and 9 do, but the outer ends of these strips 19 and are fastened as by rivets 14 to the strips 8" and 9 as lainly indicated in the drawings.

It will e seen that this construction will operate in the same way as other forms of my invention and will have similar advantages. The particular advantage of this modified form is that the strain placed upon each set of strips and spring is placed upon two integral'strips, one consisting of 8 and 12 and the other 9 and 13" instead of having' the strain transmitted through the rivets as in the form shown in Fig. 2. In the modification shown in Fig. 4 the rivets 14 simply have the work of keeping the strips 19 and 20'up from the coiled spring 15.

It will be seen that various modifications and changes may be made in the form and details of my construction without depart ing from the spirit of my invention as arein set forth.

I claim-- 1. In a spring chair seat, the combination of a rigid chair-seat frame having an opening therein, fiat metallic strips arranged in pairs with their outer ends secured to opposite sides of the frame ind with their inner ends overlapping one another, an arm on each strip slanting diwnwardly, and inwardly with their inward ends held spaced from the line of the said strips and with the inward ends of the aims of each pair of strips spaced from eaci other and a coiled spring connected at its opposite ends to the inner ends of said arms and tensioned to yieldingly hold said strips in line.

2. In a spring chair ;eat, the combination of'a rigid chair-seat fr ime having an opening therein, flat metallic strips arranged in pairs with their outer (nds secured to opposite sides of the frame and with their inner 'ends overlapping one another, an arm on yieldingly hold said strips in line.

In witness whereof I have afiixed my signature, this 13th day 0:? July, 1916.

WILL] AM B. FOSTER. 

